October 14, 2008

Aria -- Fancy Akari

I tried, once upon a time, to watch Fancy Lala. Pixy described it as "little girl wish fulfillment" and it really is true. But the problem for me was that I couldn't stop cringing. The world as presented in that series was innocent, safe. Lala, in her 16 year old form, did things which in the world I live in would have resulted in molestation or worse, but which in her world ended up being fun and utterly un-hazardous. No one ever asks her to take her bra off in front of the camera, let alone doing anything worse.

I couldn't relax when watching it. The little airhead was risking bad times, and I felt like I had to watch out for her because she was too stupid to do it.

So that's why I stopped watching the series.

Neo-Venizia seems to be placed in Lala's world, not in mine. Or at least Akari is acting like it is. Ep 5 and Akari receives an anonymous invitation to go to an island called "Neverland". She's never heard of it, and when she gets there it seems totally abandoned. So she parks her gondola (did I mention that she's gone there alone) and starts to explore.

And I'm thinking, "I wonder if part of the standard Undine costume is a concealed weapon? HONEY, IT'S A TRAP!!!"

Only I'm sure it won't be. More likely it's a surprise party or something of the kind.

You know, one advantage of those long skirts they wear is that there's plenty of room inside for an arsenal.

UPDATE: I think that Alice is an interesting character. She's the trainee for Orange Planet, and it's fun to see her opening up and beginning to enjoy things. She was such a sad-sack at the beginning when she was first introduced, so it's always nice to see her smile.

UPDATE: episode 6, and now we have a good reason why Alice is an odd one. It's because Athena is a very odd one. As Alice says, "Athena hardly notices anything."

It's certainly interesting to contrast Orange Planet against the Aria Company -- in size, if no other way.

UPDATE: I think ep 6 (Alice's kitten) may be my favorite so far.

I really like the fact that the three companies don't seem to be in bitter competition with each other, and that the people who work at them can, and are, friends.

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Alice is, by far, my favorite character in the whole series. Of all of them, she's the one that grows and matures the most over the course of the 53 or 54 (depends on if you count the special dvd-only ep of Season 3) episodes.

Undines might be cute and all, but sculling a gondola is hard work; with all the upper-body strength they'd come by, chances are they wouldn't need an oar to beat the crepe out of an attacker.

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Also, I hate unsolicited suggestions and advice. (Even when you think you're being funny.)

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